Comfortable PPE may be more error-free

The Hohenstein Institute decided to find out how personal protective equipment worn in clean rooms affects the stress and mental focus of employees performing high-concentration tasks. Volunteer test subjects wearing various types of clean room clothing had to perform a challenging task requiring a great deal of concentration in a specially developed “Stressbox.” Following the stress phase, Hohenstein tested volunteers on a new software system, which required subjects to focus and multitask. Volunteers wearing high-quality reusable clothing generally performed better than those wearing less breathable disposable clothing. These results were observed to affect both the speed of their reactions and their error rate. The results have implications for jobs requiring meticulous, error-free work, such as surgery, air traffic control and military operations.